A few months back I received a query about the course of what was described as a railway line running to Magilligan Point. I hadn't been aware that there had been such a line and certainly there hadn't been a locomotive line. There had however been a horse drawn tramway, (standard gauge) for a very short period. It ran from the Londonderry & Coleraine Railway Company line, where Magilligan Station was ultimately constructed, to Magilligan Point with an intermediate halt at Drummond.
I would not be surprised if this tramway holds the record for the shortest lived tramway of all time. It commenced operations on 1st July 1855 and ceased on 1st October 1855. Perhaps it was anticipated that the line would attract tourists to the, "Point," and its Martello Tower and the numbers didn't materialise. Somewhat surprisingly this tramway is not mentioned in W. A. McCutcheon's, "The Industrial Archaeology of Northern Ireland."
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